How Parks and Green Spaces Can Improve Your Health

Parks and green spaces provide a variety of health benefits by promoting physical activity, connection to nature and opportunities for community engagement. Nature-based programs can even be prescribed by health care providers as part of alternative, cost-effective treatment plans.

在一个paper最近published in theNorth Carolina Medical Journal,Lincoln Larsonand亚伦·希普，北卡罗来纳州公园，娱乐和旅游管理副教授，概述了公园和绿色空间如何帮助减轻当代健康挑战。

最近，我们与拉尔森（Larson）和希普（Hipp）进行了交谈，以了解有关这些空间价值的更多信息，利用其利益的计划以及与可访问性有关的公平问题。在下面查看。

What defines a green space?

拉尔森和希普：从狭窄（例如森林地区）到宽阔（例如，任何包括一些自然元素的景观，例如后院甚至街道树），可以通过多种方式定义绿色空间。

In general, we like to think about green space as a term that includes both natural ecosystems and key components of the built environment such as public parks, greenways, gardens and forests, as well as private yards and other natural areas.

How do these spaces positively impact physical health?

拉尔森和希普：由于公园和绿色空间提供的好处通常是免费的，因此可以公开访问，因此它们代表了传统健康促进策略的经济高效的替代方案和/或补充。这些空间对于身体健康尤其重要。它们创造了支持积极生活方式并改善锻炼机会的环境。它们还通过减轻诸如高胆固醇水平，高血压和肥胖症等危险因素来改善心血管健康。

在某些情况下（想想社区花园和托管农民市场），公园也可以养成健康的饮食习惯。他们通过改善空气质量，调节温度和恶劣天气的影响来提供各种生态系统服务，所有这些都会影响我们的健康。因此，这些好处可以由在公园和绿色空间（例如，在公园里跑步）和生活在它们附近的社区（例如，空气质量和温度调节）的人都可以经历这些好处。

这些空间可以提供哪些心理健康益处？

拉尔森和希普：公园和绿色空间还提供许多心理健康益处。在自然界中花费更多时间的人享有增强的认知功能，注意力和减轻压力。他们也不太可能表现出焦虑症和抑郁症，更有可能报告高水平的幸福和幸福感。

Connection to nature and green spaces has also been shown to enhance positive youth development. Parks provide benefits to broader communities too, providing spaces where people gather and interact to build social cohesion and foster social capital.

Green land cover also yields economic benefits, and has been linked to lower levels of health care spending and higher levels of financial well-being and security. These benefits have been especially evident during the COVID-19 pandemic, where individuals and communities who had access to parks and green space demonstrated better health outcomes and a heightened ability to cope than those who weren’t able to use or access these areas.

在所有社区中实现这些健康益处围绕着哪些公平问题？

拉尔森和希普：Despite the immense capacity of parks and green space to improve health outcomes, these resources often remain inequitably distributed across diverse communities. Neighborhoods with a large proportion of low-income or racial/ethnic minority residents typically experience limited access to quality parks and green space, including limited programming within the spaces.

即使公园位于这些社区，它们的质量也趋于较低，因此通常使用频率较低。这些差异仅在19日期的大流行期间才出现，强调了确保公园和绿色空间的好处的必要性，并且可以被社会的各个阶层访问和享受。

如何利用公园和绿色空间来支持社区健康？

拉尔森和希普：随着越来越多的人认识到公园的健康促进潜力，许多计划，工具和计划旨在利用这些机会。Examples of efforts to accentuate these connections include the National Park Service’s “Healthy Parks Healthy People” initiative, the “Leave No Child Inside” movement, and the rise of nature prescription (or Park Rx) programs designed to formalize the health benefits of outdoor spaces through a written prescription from a health care provider.

Novel partnerships are also playing an increasingly important role. In North Carolina, for instance, “Let’s Move Libraries” is a UNC-Greensboro resource for linking public libraries to outdoor-based active living opportunities, and 4-H Youth Development programs run through cooperative extensions offices in each county help youth connect with nature. Play Streets and Open Streets initiatives that increase access to safe outdoor recreation opportunities highlight another creative trend toward outdoor and nature-based health promotion during the pandemic.

尽管挑战仍然存在，但公园和绿色空间与健康相关的利益现在可能比以往任何时候都更加明显。在这个关键时刻，我们需要在个人（例如，在户外和公园RX处方）和社区层面（例如，促进与公园和绿色公平联系的政策和计划）中接受基于自然的干预措施的价值（例如，更多的时间和公园RX处方）空间）。尽管需要更多的研究，但目前的证据是明确的：提高绿色空间获取和质量在各种环境中的计划，政策和决策中的作用最终可能导致更健康，更幸福的人群。

This story by Lauren McLaughlin was originally published on the College of Natural Resources网站。

这个帖子是最初出版在自然资源学院新闻中。